Sharon Tara New Hampshire Home Stager

Fall is my favorite time of the year, October is my favorite month, and Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Over the years I have

made my share of Halloween costumes and many of them have been pretty creative.

There are plenty of great costumes available at the stores this year, but if you really want to make some memories, try making your own or making costumes for your kids. It can be so much fun!

Animal costumes are always popular and you

can get a simple pattern that will enable you

to make many different animals.

Depending on the shape of the ears, type of

tail and choice of fabric, one pattern can go a

long way.

Years ago I created these costumes for my

children to be The Three Bears, using my

daughter's Cabbage Patch Kid as Baby Bear.

The same pattern was used to make Bo Peep's lamb costume.

I was so happy with this half girl/half boy costume I made my daughter, that I decided

to make an adult version: half bride/half groom. They weren't that hard to make, I cut the clothes in

half and sewed them together. I even made my mother and my aunt costumes... half bridesmaid/half groomsman and we had the whole wedding party.

Costumes for groups of people can be

really fun...

Creating the

Addicted to Love girls

was pretty easy...clothes, makeup, and hair had to be

the same and we made the guitars using foam board

and black electrical tape.

Other group costumes we have made included:

The hand costume was horrible to wear, we were enclosed from head to toe and had no use of our arms. It was not fun, but we won the contest we created the costume for. Not for the faint of heart!

The Easter basket was not confining, but we had to move as a unit. It was created by sewing fabric around a hoop made from pvc pipe. We also won a contest that year. You gotta really like someone to walk around in a basket with them all night long! Choose your basket mates wisely.

I'm a big fan of optical illusion costumes.

I created this Fairy costume by first sewing the mushroom

and stuffing the mushroom cap. The cap is like a donut

with a whole in the center. It was worn like a skirt.

The tutu type fairy skirt and fake legs are tied around my

waist after putting on the mushroom skirt. You can't see

them, but I'm wearing wings on my back.

It was a really cute costume. It looked even better and more

realistic on a child.

One of my favorite costumes

was this Rabbit in a Hat.

The hat was created by first making the rim

from cardboard and covering it with fabric. Then

I attached the fabric that formed the hat, using

a hula hoop sewed into the hem to weigh it down.

The hat is actually hanging from my shoulders using

fishing line for straps.

What was convenient about this costume was the fact that I could simply remove the straps from my shoulders and drop the hat to the ground and step out of it whenever I needed to. It transported really easily too.

One of my more dramatic costumes was this

skeleton in a coffin. It doesn't photograph well, and

was far more impressive in person. My uncle, Jim, hand

painted the skeleton onto my body suit with me wearing it.

That was a really one-of-a-kind experience.

I made the coffin using a foam board presentation display,

covering it with fabric, which went to the floor. The coffin

had wire hooks on the inside which slipped over my shoulders,

enabling me to walk around hands free, coffin and all.

My skeleton costume was recycled by my daughter.

Lose the coffin, add an orange vest and hard hat...voila:

you have Skeleton Crew.

Her boyfriend had the highway barrel...I can't tell you

why or how he got it...that information is classified...

but he cut holes for his head and arms and wore

a light on his head.

I hope you enjoyed my photos, but more importantly, I hope they have inspired you to get creative and have fun this year making costumes of your own.

If you create something special, or have made costumes in the past, please share a photo in the comment section. I would love to see them!

Today was perfect! The sun was shining, there was a refreshing breeze...perfect day to go pick peaches. There is nothing like the taste of a just picked, juicy peach on a beautiful summer day in New England.

Of course, my "stager" mind came up with an analogy while I was enjoying my adventure amongst the fruit trees.

The trees are so full and there are so many to choose from. I was very selective on my quest for the perfect peach. Each one was closely inspected before being plucked from the branch.

Just like the real estate market, I thought...buyers have choices.

Price being equal, the determining factor would be appearance and condition.

Peaches with imperfections are not as visually and emotionally appealing to buyers. I watched as others searched for the "perfect" peaches, the ones with the best color, the best looking ones.

All around me I heard comments like "look at this one" and "what a beauty" and "I found some nice ones over here."

People are naturally drawn to attractive and visually appealing products.

In today's market with so many houses to choose from in their price range, buyers will pick the house that feels like home to them.

They don't want the house with imperfections, they want the move-in ready, visually appealing house.

Ok, home staging analogy over... how about some info on where I went for this wonderful experience!

Cider Hill Farm is located in Amesbury, Massachusetts. It is our favorite farm to visit to pick peaches in

the summer and apples in the fall.

WARNING: They make fresh apple cider donuts there each day...warm and sugary...to die for!

In addition to all the fruit picking and donut eating going on,

of course there is fresh cider, corn on the cob,

a country store with all kinds of goodies, including fresh baked pies, and all the usual fresh veggies.

They sell their own honey.

For the kids,

There are goats and chickens to feed,

and really cute tire swings that look like horses...

In the fall... potted mums and pumpkins galore!

Did I mention the donuts?

Cider Hill Farm is open seven days a week and picking hours are 8:00 - 5:30. A complete crop schedule is available for more information on availability of each fruit.

It may be a realtor who is afraid of losing the listing who is pushing to get the house on the market. It may be a seller who, now that they have decided to sell, wants it on the market yesterdayl There could be seasonal issues, school beginning or school ending issues, relocating to another state for a new job time restraints. It may be a divorce situation where the sellers are anxious to get on with their lives.

It doesn't really matter what the reason is, too many sellers are prematurely listing their houses.

I've heard it over and over again...sellers don't have the time to make the suggested improvements. They can't afford to wait two weeks to get it on the market. "Listed" somehow means "sold" and getting the house on the market becomes the priority.

Unfortunately, and ironically for these sellers, the act of rushing onto the market is what ultimately keeps the house on longer than need be. Today's buyers are not interested in making improvements. They want move-in-ready. Worn carpet or dated wallpaper not only represents work to buyers, it also suggests that the house wasn't properly maintained and other areas of the home become suspect.

This seller was ready to list, believing that removing the worn, dated carpet was not necessary. The Realtor and I convincing him to delay listing until the carpet could be removed and some accessories could be added made a huge difference on the quality of product being marketed. Taking the extra time resulted in increased perceived value.

For those sellers that do list prematurely, once they realize their mistake, the house's "days on market" are accumulating. Too many days on market leads to a price reduction.

A sellers best chance at getting closest to asking price is in the first two weeks, when the price and the interest in the house are at their highest. You only get one shot at that just-listed popularity. Just-listed interest is so short lived...can you really afford not to be prepared?

Here is my advice to anyone considering selling their home. Make the best use of your time. Take the time necessary to properly prepare the house for sale. Do not list until the house is completely ready to be shown.

It's not time and money saved when you cut corners, it is actually time and money lost.

Time spent on improvements increases your chance of selling and decreases your chance of price reductions.

When it comes to my home staging business in New Hampshire, my tag line "creative and unique solutions one room at a time" is much more than just a tag line. As a home stager, it is a way of life.

I find that more often than not, creativity plays a big role in a succesful staging. Many of my clients have made it clear from the beginning that they "have a limited budget" or "have no money" or "cannot afford" when it comes to paying for my services.

Don't get me wrong, I have been blessed with clients who totally "get it" and I am grateful for those opportunities, but cost usually is a determining factor on most jobs.

If you are a stager, this is not unfamiliar to you. Sometimes we are able to help realtors and/or sellers understand the value of the investment of staging and sometimes we just are not. When you are challenged with budget restraints and have to make the best with what the client has, "creative" and "unique" solutions are often what make the difference.

If you are a homeowner preparing your home for sale and you are deciding which items to donate, sell or even trash...you may want to wait until after the home stager visits. The items we choose to use may surprise you.

Here are some photos from a recent job, where creativity played the starring role in updating the room and also saving the homeowner money.

This photo was taken by a realtor, who was planning on using it on MLS. I convinced her to give me the chance to get her a better photo.

Although the room is actually quite large, it gives the impression of being small and crowded. The king size bed has no choice but to go in front of the windows and this makes the space seem like it has furniture placement issues.

The bedding and valances are dated.

I was only given one visit to make as much of an improvement as I could.

I flipped the existing bedspread over to the white side. The homeowner had an old comforter and shams she had put aside to donate.

Hey, charity begins at home, right! I used the comforter at the foot of the bed and added the shams..

Turns out there were valances to match the comforter, but I wanted panels for the windows behind the bed, one on each side to frame the bed and make it feel more like it belonged there.

Here's where the creative part comes in...

The charity set...had a matching shower curtain. I cut it up the middle, folded the top over to hide the shower curtain ring holes and used drapery rings with clips to hang from the rod. The homeowner found it very amusing, saying "I never thought I would be cutting up an old shower curtain for my bedroom and have it considered an improvement!"

By photographing the room from further back and including the second nightstand, the room feels more spacious.

Lucky for this homeowner that she hadn't gotten around yet to delivering her donated items, so her only expense for this room's makeover was the two curtain rods and rings and the two throw pillows...one quick trip to Walmart.

Living in the woods, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, we have daily visits from deer, primarily in the winter months when they are in need of food. We have never seen albino deer. My daughter sent me these photos from northern New Hampshire of two beautiful albino deer.

Seeing these pictures gave me the idea to share photos I have taken of the deer in my yard in Portsmouth, NH. Here are some of my favorite shots:

More deer than birds at our birdfeeders! Look closely...it's tongue is sticking out!

They are such peaceful, sweet animals. I never get tired of seeing them.